Beloved (A Kylo Ren Romance - Sequel to the Princess and the Beast)
by Kezzlebezzle
Summary: Her love was his destiny. Her anger was his downfall. Her refusal became his torment. After Kylo Ren's murder of his father, the princess Denere now has to fight even harder to free herself from the growing realisation - she may not be enough to help him. But if she is not enough, then it is up to this woman to find a way to do the impossible - Light the fire that burns the Resista
1. Chapter 1

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"Where is she?"

"Sir the Supreme Leader . . ."

The unfortunate trooper goes crashing into the wall. A shadow passes over him as his armour plunged into darkness and Kylo Ren towers above him like an avenging angel.

"He's going to kill you?" He kneels Down and the metallic voice brushes over, freezing the solider. "FN-356, I've been away a long time. I'm angry. I'm unstable. And now to add insult to injury, I cannot find my wife. If I don't find her in the next few minutes, I'm going to start slicing something. And right now, that something is you. Understand."

"She . . ." The trooper winces. "She's on the bridge. . . she . . ."

He's already gone, his footsteps thudding across the corridors, echoing in the silence. To her. To the one he should never have left behind, but did.

"Onar! Onar!"

"Shut her up."

"Onar I'm sorry . . ." Her head hangs. "I'm sorry . . ."

"Dose her up for goodness sake!"

Her throat is raw from yelling, her legs are shaking. It feels like she's drowning in sweat. The bucket she keeps throwing up in hasn't been emptied and the wires are prodding her skin but she can feel them sliding about. Onar. Everything for Onar. He's all she's got left, the memory of those dead, like her beloved brother.

"Doctor . . ." There he is. The filthy swine who keeps upping the dose whenever she back talks. And she's been doing a lot of that. "If I add anymore to the mixture, she could die."

"What's wrong doc?" the princess laughs weakly. "Have you ran out of things to do with me?"

"You don't have to die for me to hurt you little girl." Oh how she hates him. She tried to choke him a couple of times. More than a couple. But the drugs make it hard to think. Hard to touch the Force. She feels Him. Nothing else. "Your husband isn't here to save you now. You belong to the First Order and your power is nothing but a tool."

"To do what?"

"You know . . ." He adjusts his spectacle, eyeing her up like a piece of meat as he steps forward, grabbing her chin. "It's such a shame that such beauty should go to waste . . ."

One minute he's talking, the next his eyes are close to popping in their sockets. He snatches at his throat. "Ah . . ." Tightens. She flinches as a crack echoes through the room. The next, every person in her little white prison is dead.

When he comes out of the darkness, she thinks she is dreaming. A thousand questions. A thousand things left unsaid.

"You . . ." She'd cry if she wasn't so dehydrated.

He draws the helmet from his face to reveal the eyes of Kylo Ren. Sometimes brown. Sometimes green, like the grass back at home. And now filled with tears. She's drinking in every detail she can as he releases the bonds on her hands and legs, drawing her into his arms.

"You . . ."

"I'm getting you out of here," he promises. "I swear it, if it's the last thing I do. I won't let him harm you again."

"I thought you'd left me . . ."

They turn a corridor. "I went to a dark place my love. But necessary. But I'm here now, and this will never happen again."

She's so tired. "Promise?"

He looks down at her and smiles softly. "I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

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 _"Falcon, come in."_

The vibration of the telepad against her chest wakes her up. The first thing she does is check. Check that she's alone in the room. She tugs the respirator from her throat and instantly barks into a coughing fit.

 _"I'm here,"_ she types,

 _"How goes the mission?"_

She hesitates. _"I still haven't found out what the weapon Snoke's building is. He's keeping it under lock and key. I advise caution with the fleet."_

 _"Noted."_

 _"How goes the fighting?"_

A few moments before the screen flashes. _"A lot of good heroes die everyday. They knew the risk. As you know the risk. Get the information about the weapon. We're running out of time. Falcon?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Stay close to Kylo Ren. And be careful."_

 _"I will . . ."_

"What are you doing?"

To her credit, she doesn't jump. Not even she meets his eyes. "I'm playing a game on the telepad . . ."

"Denere . . ." That practiced expression. Absolute stillness. "I'm not talking about the game." He lowers himself to the bed, studying her face. "You're supposed to be resting. At least put the respirator back on."

She really is glad to see him. Even now. After thinking for so long that he was gone. That he'd finally given up, and he wasn't coming back. And Han Solo . . . his own father. She isn't sure whether to be sad for him or hateful.

"Is my family well?"

"Last I checked."

"And when did you check?"

"An hour ago."

"Oh . . . thank you."

"Don't thank me princess." He seems very sure about that. Won't meet her eyes. Almost as if he doesn't think he deserves it. "Don't thank me. You forget, it's my fault that you're here, and not at home. It was the least I could do."

There was a time when they would lock eyes and it felt like you could light the hottest fire on the flames. Her rage. His confusion. Now there's . . . something other than anger in her bones. Something more befitting of a wife to her husband. Nonsense.

"Anyway . . ." He clears his throat. "I've arranged for you to leave . . ."

"No."

He raises a dark eyebrow. "No?"

"I'm not leaving you Ben."

"Denere . . ."

"I'm not leaving you," she repeats. "I won't let you send me away just to protect me. That's not your choice to make."

He's facing away from her, leaning against the wall. His entire frame is heavy.

"I love you," he whispers.

She shakes. "Please don't say that . . ."

"Do you want me to lie?!" She jumps as he grabs her arms, forcing her to stare into the intensity of his burning eyes. "Do you?! Do you have any idea what it would take for me to leave you?!"

"Do you have any idea what it would take for me to leave you?!" She shouts back. "You force your way into my life, to make me _care_ about you in ways that I shouldn't care about anyone, and now that's it? I'm just being cast aside?"

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't _have_ to," he hisses back.

"Oh yeah? Well here's the thing big shot, you're not _doing_ anything because I'm not going anywhere!" She's already standing before the sentence is out of her throat.

"Woman for _goodness_ sake . . ." He tries to grab her as she stands up but she shoves him off.

"Don't patronise me Ben. I got hurt. I didn't get my legs cut off."

"Don't you see?!" They both Jump as the machinery crushes under the might of the Force. "Denere . . ." She didn't notice until he brushed the tear from her eyes that she was crying. "I won't fight you. Under any circumstances, you _know_ I'd stay with you, but you didn't see your body a few hours ago. You didn't see the marks, you didn't see what almost happened to you. I'm not letting it happen again. There's an escape pod targeted to a remote moon not far from here, by the time it lands we'll be out of range. Either you get on the pod, or you'll force my hand, but either way, by the end of today, you're not going to be here."

"Until we reach the end of our days - together we will be, forever."

He smiles if only a fraction. "I'll never forget the hate in your eyes when you said that."

"I never knew you."

"But I always knew you. And you deserve better than this."

In the end he always knew. She was too wilful. Too certain. Too bent on one course of action. Before she could even move, he spreads out his hands. It wasn't difficult. She wasn't concentrating. She collapses against him as he holds her in his arms. Closely. Fiercely. She was his. She was always meant to be. How did she do this? How did this woman make him feel so much pain?! He was the one that was supposed to change her. Make her turn to the dark side. Instead he finds himself lost, confused. Questioning all of this.

He lifts his wife into his arms. He has to move fast. Before he changes his mind. "Goodbye Little spitfire."


	3. Chapter 3

"I am in possession of news that may interest you my young apprentice."

He doesn't look up. He doesn't need to. When the Supreme Leader wants you to hear something, you'll hear it, whether on your knees or wheezing in a pool of your own blood.

"The young princess has disappeared."

"Oh?"

"There were ten guards in that room. Not including the good Doctor, one of my finest surgeons. Someone eliminated some of our finest soldiers in a fraction of a second. I am most curious to know why."

"Denere . . ." He catches his breath. "Her powers have been growing, changing. I long suspected a resistance spy in our ranks. If they found out about her, she could have been taken."

Silence. Nothing but the cool rattling of his breath. The Supreme Leader rises to full height. It is almost forgiveable how he changed him. A young boy, with nothing left to live for. And this being whatever he is, with all his smooth words and black eyes - he was terrified. And so he might be now, if it wasn't for the fact that there is someone who cares now.

"That is curious," his master continues. "General Hux informs me that there were blaster bolts found on the bodies - they must not possess her power."

"What would you have me do master?"

"Hmmm . . ." And then he smiles. And when his master smiles, it has all the warmth of a viper. "Her home world - I think a demonstration is in order. She must know what will happen if she should use her powers against us."

There's bile in his throat. He can taste it. Feel it creeping, singeing his chest.

"The planet?"

"The capital city will do for now. And for every day she remains out of her reach, you will destroy another one of her precious cities."

"I . . ." He remembers the capital city. The flowing banners in the wind as his wife and her little sister ran through the streets laughing. She will never forgive him for this. But then there are many things she will never forgive him for. He didn't think this through. And in this moment, they both know it.

"As you wish Master. It will be done."

He wants him dead. He'd always thought it before. But now looking at him, he only sees the decrepit monster who manipulated him, took an innocent girl away from her home and forced her into slavery to die, alone, with a man she had always hated.

"I hate you."

Snoke chuckles. "I wondered how long it would take you to confess it."

"I'm going to kill you one day."

"Irony in its purest form. Why do you think I kept her from you? Why do you think it was never revealed to you where she was? But it matters not. The princess is gone, and with her, any hope you have of reaching full strength. Now get out of my sight."


	4. Chapter 4

_"I hate him."_

 _"Denere, you don't know him."_

 _"I don't have to know him!" She snapped. "Look at his legacy mother. Look at what he's done, the countless people who've died because of him, look at how he treats our family, coming here with his damned army and ordering us about . . ."_

 _"Denere!" Her mothers voice growls back. "I will not have you jeopardise this alliance. You are not the only one who's made sacrifices."_

 _She remembers feeling hot. Like an ember burning forever in the chambers of her heart. It wasn't just him she hated. It was the idea. She was going to save her people. Free them from poverty. From the corruption of their legal system. Fr9m everything. And now because of him, she never will. Damn him. Although, maybe if they do have to share a bed, she could lodge a knife in between his ribs. Now there's a sweet thought._

Her eyes snap open. It takes a moment to remember what happened to her. The words exchanged. And him. She tried to move but there's something strapped over her mouth. She never did do well in tight spaces and it shows now as her heart rate starts peaking. She's in an escape pod. She's a freaking escape pod. That low life sent her off like a pampered pet. And forgot everything of what she was supposed to be there for.

"Denere . . ."

She jumps as a screen flickers to life at the bottom of the pod.

"Selfish . . ."

"If you're listening to this, you're awake," his voice continues. "I'm not sorry Denere. I'm not going to apologise for sending you away - you were going to die aboard that ship. I've programmed the pod . . ."

"I'm not sorry Denere," She mimics his voice all high pitched, like a little princess. He's still talking but she reckons if she plans this right, she'll be able to confront him face to face. The telepad is gone. And her lightsaber that she received from Master Unduli herself is concealed aboard the ship. She could not be in any worse situation. How will she aid the resistance now?

She manages somehow to roll over onto her side and cut open a patch of wires. She never thought she'd need it. Onar and her, sitting there in the summer, while he taught her how to hack an escape pod and send their geography teacher off to the lair of some horny wildebeests. The memory makes her laugh.

Red. To green.

"Heck yes!" She cries. It takes her a good half hour to toggle in between frequencies. "Hello. This is Falcon. Hello . . ." And she almost had it. Maybe she almost did. When she feels something brush her hair. She looks down into the little crevice underneath the pillow supporting her head. What she sees, cannot be possible.

"How . . ."

She picks up the lightsaber. And the telepad. Right there. In the pod. Even though she _swears_ she left both behind her.

"What does it mean?" She whispers. Something flickers to life on the screen.

 _Outer Rim. Sector A24._

 _"_ What?"

It buffers and the words splash out across the screen again. _Outer Rim. Sector A24._

She checks the escape pod stats. It's possible. She can make it take her there, to A24. But if she's wrong, there will not be enough fuel for the trip back.

"I'm not enough to help him," she whispers to herself. Silence. "I know where you want me to go. You've given me these, these gifts. And you've given me Ben and I know you want me to save him but . . . he doesn't love me, I mean, you must know that! How can he, I'm just . . ." She sighs. "I'm just the girl with no family. Look, say you want me to go, and I'm there, but I can't help Ben."

 _Outer Rim. Sector A24._

"May the Force be with me," she says. And then it's off. To whatever fresh hell lies in the stomach of the treacherous outer Rim.


	5. Chapter 5

"Denere . . ."

She feels as if she's waiting to die. From the moment she touched onto this forsaken planet, her heart was racing. But it was so cold. So very cold. She manages to salvage some kind of thermal cloak from the pod, and a few supplies but only enough for a day. She tightens the lightsaber on her belt, and starts making her way.

Into what? She does not know. But one thing she does know. Never in her life has she felt so utterly cold. It is like her soul is not even dwelling in her body, it's floating, flying far away, trying to be free of this place.

 _"Flesh . . ."_

 _"So pretty . . ."_

 _"Bind her . . ."_

The lightsaber is drawn before she hears a single word more. The air is hard and dry, the fog obscures much of what she sees ahead but she can feel the bone parched sand under her feet, feel it resist her, almost trying to push her back.

"I'm not afraid of you," she glares. "Whoever you are, whatever form you're hiding in, I'm not afraid of you."

 _"Not yet . . ."_

Tumbling. Screaming. As the ground beneath her gives way and she rolls. Rolls into the sand coughing and spluttering as this monster of a building bursts forth from the shadow. The gates to this monstrous temple heave open. And something bellows out.

"Go!" As if she has to tell herself. She races across the sand. Makes the mistake of turning back. And then she sees it. Like a hound but _walking._ On two legs. Like a human. Its muscles drip with sweat and grime, each fang is at least the size of her head and it's venomous eyes glint through the fog, forever waiting.

 _"Feast . . ."_

And it's not moving. It's just standing there, watching her. Nothing but silence, the wind whipping in her ears and the soft hum of the light sabre. And then the howling starts. First the one in front of her. And then the rest. To her rear. And the sides. It's everywhere until it's inside her head and when it's inside her head, it turns to voices and the voices turn to hate, and the hate . . .

There's a man. Walking alongside her in dreams. " _Tuk'ata- they protect the Sith Tombs . . ."_

Again and again it echoes.

"Get . . ." Her stomach rolls. "Get away . . ."

She hits her knees. Sith Tombs. Sith Tombs. It sent her into a graveyard of evil in its prime, the cesspit of the galaxy. The Force has betrayed her. Even as she struggles to her feet, she regrets it. No tears, no regret. Better to die like this, feeling nothing, than to starve in this new hell.

"Fine," she pants even as the wiry creature inches ever close. "Take me away, I give up."

He knew as soon as he saw it disappear under a wave of dust that it was over. He did it, didn't he? He sent her away, she's safe. She's safe. She would never have loved him anyway. He's been down that path, he's seen what it brings and he won't entrust his heart to someone ever again.

He's back now. He's Kylo Ren. As the capital city of Liothé erupts beneath a shower of flames, he feels nothing. Nothing. They're just people. There's thousands of them, thousands. They all die anyway. It's their fate. He's just helping them get a little closer to it is all.

His face remains staunch and set as the weapons ion rays continue to devastate the capital of Oldereen. It's just a city. And he's killed many more. Then why? Why does Kylo Ren feel so horribly ashamed?


	6. Chapter 6

There are chains on her hands that she cannot see. There are words on her mouth that she cannot speak. And a weight in her heart that she cannot lift. She walks tall through everything. As these monsters march her past thousands of them. It's like a ceremony. Walking down a path of what looks like red heated coals with the night swarming in on all sides.

And in the centre, the building. Sometimes they are there as solid as her own skin, other times they phase in and out, in and out. Her head is ringing, and more than once she has wanted to cry. Just a girl with no family. That's fine. If she has no family then no one will miss her. And that puts the spring in her step. Enough spring, that she stops. Silence descends.

"I want to know where you are taking me."

The lead tuk'ata stops and growls. What once were a series of animalistic hisses blends into something more awful. Something that grates like a fork on a plate. _"You will ask no questions of us."_

"I just did. You're not going to kill me. Not until I watch whatever on earths at the end of this path. But if you don't tell me where I'm going . . . I'll make sure you have to kill me, because I'm not going any further."

It's wailing drills upon her brain. _"That you dare question us . . . do you not feel it?"_

"I feel nothing."

 _"All is s the Force wills, and the tree always blossoms from its root, so too, the Force has returned you to yours, that you may rise again."_

"I've never been here before," she says. Trying to say it out loud, trying to meet its eyes, is suddenly harder than she thought it would be. "I don't know this place, I was born on Oldereen."

Pity. Pity. From those who guard the graves of the Sith. _"Oh how sweet your ignorance must taste. What luscious lies you cling to . . . no more questions. Follow."_

It is a queer feeling to have your heart go silent. Absolutely silent. She looks back, once. Only once. The tree springs up from the roots. And the Force brought her _here._ To a place where the dark side is so pungent that it feels . . . normal. She cannot imagine the things that have happened here. But she knows one thing. About Arya. And Ben. And Nereli. And her family. The girl with no family is going to die here. Here, she must become . . . someone greater. _Something_ greater.

 **Luke Skywalker**

He shut himself off from the Force. It was too painful. Oh how it played him. Led and twisted him into thinking that he could be someone better. Someone greater. And then he ruined Ben. And for years after, the voices have been coming in the night. Voices sent to plague him. To whisper to him. Once they whispered something that he did not believe for a moment. The girl, Rey. She could turn out like Ben. She could become wicked like Ben. And fail, time and time over.

But the voices whispered something. And even in a dream, once too, showed him something.

A girl. With eyes like the night, and fire in her soul. A girl with no family. No home. No direction. The girl they say, who is going to save Kylo Ren. So the darkness will be lit up like the moon amidst the night sky, once again.


End file.
